The Room Time Forgot
by fourknocks
Summary: <html><head></head>(rose x ten undertones) In which Clara stumbles upon a room in the TARDIS that time simply forgot</html>


"Is it alright if I stay the night?" she asked as her hands brushed the metallic surface of the console. Clara had been whisked away by the Doctor on another of his wacky adventures. He had taken her to the luscious but deadly jungles of Nuevo Oceania; they had tackled poisonous flora and just as deadly fauna, risking everything just to steal a bar of gold that if found by wrong hands would start the destruction of the third bountiful and glorious Human empire. Luckily, they had found it in time and managed to evade death by the luscious locale surroundings only to return to the TARDIS, the Doctor planning to return her all hot and exhausted just in time for Clara to teach her tenth grade English class.

Beside her, the Doctor was carried away, pressing buttons so they could begin the sequence to return Clara a minute after she left. The Doctor hesitated, looking over to his companion, hands frozen over the lever that would send them whirring back to the twenty-first century Earth. "Why do you want to stay?" the Doctor asked, grey eyebrows quirking up with curiosity.

"Well I am exhausted and I can't go back and teach looking like I just spent a day in a deadly jungle!"

"Well you _did_ just spend a day in a deadly jungle," the Doctor pointed out, hand gripping the lever but never pulling it. Softening his gaze, the Doctor nodded, "You may. Showers are down that corridor, take two lefts, a right, and a left and go through the big doors. The laundry and wardrobe are another left and there should be a spare bedroom down the stairs and take a right."

"Okay," Clara nodded, feigning confidence in remembering the directions which had already struggled to cling to her memory. She sent the Doctor a small smile before taking off down the corridor in search for the showers. She passed silver walls with multicolour doors, each leading off into various eclectic rooms, many looked unused. The showers were easy to find, big blue doors that slid open when she walked past to reveal an extravagant washroom that would suit a mansion or Buckingham palace. "Wow," Clara's voice echoed through the steamy white room. Showerheads glistened in the soft white lights; pristine water cascaded from water features and her nose caught the soft scent of soap and shampoo. She felt so out of place, damp hair clinging onto her sweaty forehead and makeup clumped and running from the intensity of her jungle exploration. She walked further into the room, stopping in front of no shower in particular before shedding her clothing that stuck to her sweaty skin and turning on the shower, warm steam rising as the sound of rushing water filled the room. With one step into the cascade, Clara was overcome with tranquillity; all her worries and fears vanished down the drain, anxiety about leading a double life, exploring all of time and space for days on end halfway through lunch, expecting to return to reality and finish conversations that she hadn't had for days yet to everyone else she hardly ever vanished for more than five minutes.

After treating herself to a luxurious shower filled with exotic shampoo and towels softer than anything she had felt before, Clara worked her way to the wardrobe. She was expecting a closet but was met with a room even larger than the shower room, clothes from every corner of space and time, filled racks and piled onto the floor. Her brown eyes widened at the site, hands gripping her towel that was wrapped around her body as she began her search for something decent. She passed multi coloured scarves, suits she remembered from his past regenerations and others that would make an historian jealous. She reached a section dedicated to pyjamas and after picking her way through she found a nightie and slippers. Happy with her choice, Clara got changed and spent her leisurely time wandering through the room on her way out. By the time she got out her mind was clear and empty of the directions the Doctor had given her earlier. Eyes growing wide once more, Clara surveyed her choices of direction her gut instinct decided on the stairs but instead of descending, she ascended, climbing flight upon flight until she reached a silver corridor lined with generic doors coated in blue. She had no idea if she was going in the right or wrong direction but Clara didn't worry too much, she sent a silent plea to the TARDIS, wishing that she would send Clara in the right direction.

Trusting her gut feeling, Clara felt her feet slow in front of a room that in normal circumstances would never bring her attention. It was generic, drab and dull but for some reason her gut told her that she had to go inside. "Are you a bedroom?" she asked the door, taking a hesitant step forward which sent the door whooshing open. Her question didn't need to be answered by words because the visuals were enough. It was indeed a bedroom, pink walls and bed sheets that were all neat, not a line on them. Clothes - female clothes - that looked like they came straight from London midway through the last decade decorated the room. Clothes were slouched over the backs of chairs and gathered on a pile in the corner of the room. Fairy lights illuminated the hot pink walls, pictures decorated the smooth surface, a blonde girl appeared in many of them and so did the Doctor back when he was tall and skinny, the same Doctor she had met they day they had saved Gallifrey. "Who are you?" Clara whispered, approaching the wall closest to her so she could examine each photo closer.

"You shouldn't be here," his Scottish accent warned, causing Clara to spin around to face her Doctor, his eyes were narrowed on her, anger danced in them and she knew she was treading on shallow water.

"I..." Clara stammered, hands gripping her nightie, "I got lost and this door opened and I guess —"

"You guessed what?" The Doctor questioned, a single grey eyebrow rising as he walked through the room's threshold towards her, "You thought you would invade someone else's space? I told you, go _down_ the stairs, not up."

"Who was she?" Clara cocked her head, hand reaching out to lightly touch the closest picture. It was of the blonde and her Doctor wrapped tightly in each other's arms, he was placing a gentle kiss on her cheek and she was grinning as they stood in front of the Eiffel tower. Clara felt her heart rise before slowly sinking; it was obvious that the female had been in some type of romantic relation with the Doctor in the past.

She then looked back to the Doctor, whose face was slack; all anger vanished only to be replaced by subtle shock, "I thought all the bedrooms were deleted a long time ago," he whispered, eyes closing as he took a step back, leaning against the pink wall. To Clara, he looked a bit too overwhelmed.

"Doctor?" she asked taking a step towards him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright?"

"Fine... fine..." the Doctor assured, opening his eyes to send Clara a gentle smile, "It's just that this room hasn't been touched in over a millennia and not long after that all the bedrooms were wiped from the database but the old girl must have saved it," he trailed off, eyes wandering the room as he took in each and every photograph, memories he had kept buried for far too long, "The room time forgot..."

"Who was she?" Clara asked again, once satisfied that the Doctor wasn't going to freak out on her and faint or runaway or argue, his emotions were sporadic these days and she had no idea how he was currently taking her little discovery but it was better than what she had thought he would be.

"A friend," the Doctor said; voice hushed as his fingers wrapped around a purple shirt that was draped over a chair.

Clara raised her brows, not believing him for a second. She took her attention away from the walls and crossed over to the bed, sitting lightly on the silky pink duvet. She ran her fingers lightly on the material, loving the feeling of smooth silk, "Oh Doctor, I don't believe you," her fingers caught on a dark piece of material beneath one of the white pillows, tugging on it, Clara revealed a tie similar to those the Doctor once wore. A lopsided smile formed on her lips, "now I definitely don't believe you."

The Doctor's eyes found hers and he followed Clara's gaze to the tie, cheeks visibly reddening as he crossed over to her, snatching the tie from her grasp, "It doesn't matter."

"I think it does," Clara teased back, "Come on, how come you've never told me about her?"

Eyes lingering on the tie the Doctor's lips formed the words he needed to say but no sound came, he just stood there, a man with many words now just a man with none.

"What happened?" Clara scooted over a little, inviting the Doctor to join her own the bed, "Come on, we've gone through enough, tell me about the mystery girl. She had to be amazingly special to steal your heart — well, hearts."

The Doctor didn't look up at her, instead he slowly sat down besides Clara, "Yeah," was all that escaped his lips.

Nudging him lightly, Clara tried to pick up the pace, "What was her name? At least tell me that."

"Rose Tyler," a smile quirked at his lips before vanishing just as suddenly as it appeared, "just a normal girl from London. Only nineteen when we first met."

Clara studied her feet as the Doctor slowly told her about the girl time forgot, the one that meant so much to him yet was never hardly spoken about, at least never when Clara was around.

"I tore her life apart yet at the same time made it better. When we met she had a boyfriend - Mickey the idiot - and her mum Jackie and by the end it was just the two of us in a way. Mickey moved to a parallel universe and when she had to choose between her mum and myself... well it was always me," the Doctor couldn't help but smile, his thumb was gently kneading his tie from long ago. "The two of us were great, perfect some would say but I lost her... she, she got trapped in a parallel universe."

"I'm sorry," Clara's wide eyes grew heavy with sympathy, slowly she moved herself until she was flush with the Doctor, hand lightly placed on his leg in an attempt to show sympathy.

The Doctor looked away, eyes trained in on a yellow shirt still splayed messily on the floor next to the bed as if it was thrown off in a rush, which to the Doctor's memory was certainly the case. He picked it up, face burrowing into the yellow cotton which still looked as if not a day has passed since it was discarded. The entire room was captured in all its sincerity as if outside its bright pink walls no longer than a few fleeting moments had passed since it was last occupied. "Don't be sorry," the Doctor told Clara, nose still burrowed in the yellow shirt as he breathed in the scent that had evaded his senses for far too long. It brought back memories, both good and bad but mostly good. He could feel a tear well up in the corner of his eye but he fought it back. The Doctor didn't want Clara to see him cry, he never wanted her to see him cry. "Rose and I, we had a happy forever in the end. Remember when I told you that sandshoes had vanity issues? Well, by accident at most I created a half human version of him with only a severed hand, regeneration energy and a touch from Donna Noble to send the ingredients mixing. I made him and since he was me in looks, memories and everything... I in a way gave him to Rose to look after, the two of them in the parallel world having the forever we always wanted."

"Oh Doctor," Clara leant her head on his shoulder, a smile lit up her face as her eyes sparkled with poignant tears , "I never knew you had this side to you, the ardent love you hide so well. It took me all this time but I now know why you have two hearts."

"And why is that?" he raised his unruly brows at her, pale eyes looking straight into her rich brown.

"Because one heart will always belong to Rose, and the other to everyone else you meet in life. You don't need to go into details or bicker with me telling me otherwise. These photos on the walls, the nostalgic smile at the mention of her name and this tie," she pulled it from his lap and with a grin, waved it front of his face, "this tie Doctor is all the proof I ever need to know that one heart will always be for her. The other," the hand with the tie landed on his left heart before moving to his right heart, "this heart is for the love you have for the universe and everything inside it."

The Doctor smiled at her and even though his face was sculpted out of wrinkles and lines, Clara could still see the young Doctor she knew the most and if she looked close enough, Clara could see the man from so long ago, with his brown suit and sandshoes look back at her with eyes so very young compared to those she gazed upon. "Get some rest," the Doctor instructed, feeling that the topic was closed, "I'm taking you back to school tomorrow, you better remember what you were teaching, unlike last time."

Clara briskly stood up, arms crossed in front of her chest as she glared at the time lord, "Hey, I had more than enough reason to forget! You whisked me away for a week on that sorry excuse of a tour around an ice planet when I was halfway through a class! Try and not come while I'm working, yeah? If we keep this up some kid will get suspicious. Okay?"

"I'll try not to!" he assured her, "Now go, this time go _down_ the stairs and take a right, you'll find the correct room this time round. Go!" standing up, the Doctor shuffled her out of the room.

At the door, Clara stopped, brown eyes studying him and lips pursed together, "Just don't stay in here too long, yeah? I know it's been a really long time since you last saw it but just don't become too nostalgic."

"Ay Ay boss," the Doctor nodded, "now goodnight Clara."

"Goodnight Doctor," with a smile, she stood on her tippy toes and placed a light kiss on his cheek before leaving him alone in the room time forgot.

Sighing, the Doctor turned around and took in ever millimetre of pink and mess that made up Rose's room. On a desk not far from him, the Doctor spotted a simple black book, pages tattered and curiosity got the best of him. He sat down on the white wooden chair that accompanied the desk and picked up the book as delicately as he could. He wanted to open up to the very first page but gravity thought otherwise, the book flew to the back where only a line of neat black ink was accompanied by a single picture. It was of the two of them not long after they met, when he took her to see the end of the world. He could see it in both their eyes that the two of them were nothing but friendly strangers, arms linked together forcefully as they stood for a complimentary picture in front of the then destroyed Earth. What caught his attention was not their first picture together but the writing that was below it, neat black ink that made out four simple words;

_'__It starts with forever'_


End file.
